Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hurry,
because this deal is only happening from October 31st
– Halloween – to November 3rd
– NOT the 4th
like I mistakingly said in a couple of postings (I really should
catch some rest this weekend). This takes us through los Días de los
Muertos, with an extra Saturday. Download early and often.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Chicanonautica,
over at La Bloga, is announcing a special Dead
Daze deal: From October 31st
to November 4th
you'll be able to get my novelSmoking Mirror Bluesfor
free! It's chock full of Sex! Violence! Religion! Politics!
Brain-zapping music! An Aztec god running amok in a futuristic
Hollywood! Just the thing to read on your Halloween/Días de los
Muertos weekend!

“Cybergod
in L.A.” is headlinese for the actual title of the story,
“Tezcatlipoca Blues.” According to Jamie Todd Rubin, "This was the first and only Ernest Hogan story that I have ever read and at first I didn't think I was going to like it but in the end I did."

I was
struggling to sell it as a novel with that title. After a few phone
calls in which I got to hear New Yorkers struggle to pronounce
Tezcatlipoca, I decided to translate the wizard/warrior's name into
English.

“Tezcatlipoca
Blues” has a wonderful illustration by Fred DeVita

Fred
called the painting “Beto.” I have a framed copy of it in my
house. His electronic teponaztle and Beto are pretty much dead on.

Fred has
dropped off the interweb radar. Anybody know what happened to him? I
can't seem to take a few steps without running into another mystery.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Tezcatlipoca
is smiling. Smoking Mirror Blues
is back via Kindle KDP Select, so you can not only buy it, but Amazon Prime members can borrow
it through the Kindle Owner's Lending Library, and I'll be doing a special Dead Daze giveaway promotion during the Halloween/Día de los Muertos weekend.

Though if you can't wait, go ahead and buy it. Tezcatlipoca and I will both
smile.

This is an experiment to see how the KDP Select thing works. Everything is
experimental these days – especially if you're a writer. I'll
report on how it works out.

Meanwhile,
I'll be doing some serious self-promotion. Or is that book promotion?
Or Tezcatlipoca promotion?

Monday, October 1, 2012

Em was
talking about a praying mantis she once saved from a black widow.
After that, the mantis would ride around on her shoulder when she
worked in the garden. Eventually she died, and Em kept her body until it disintegrated.

We were
zooming down Highway 60.

We
passed a place that was freshly painted white with huge, bright red
letters that said JESUS SALVA. “Jesus Saves” in Spanish. Or was
it somebody's name? A religious retreat? A cult headquarters? Or the
location for a horror movie?

When we
arrived at the Nature Conservancy's Hassayampa River Preserve, I
noticed a head stone with MURDERED on it. It was the final resting
place of the Barney Martin, his wife, and two sons who were killed in 1886. A bit of bloody Wild West history.

In the
preserve's visitor's center Em said,“What a pretty tarantula!”

We had
to wait for a pair of cows to move on before we hit the trails.
“It'll be okay, as long as you stay out of their line of sight,”
a volunteer said. It got me thinking about the mechanics of
bullfighting, as we passed the RATTLESNAKE ALERT sign.

I wasn't
expecting to find datura here, but it was all over. At one point, it
was a jungle with the devil's trumpet as far as the eye cold see. This
is what the plant does in its natural habitat. Some of the flowers
were as big as four inches across. Black insects crawled on the white
petals.

There
was also a marijuana-like scent in the air. And spectacular fungal
colonization of certain trees. And lots of large ants, black and red,
scrambling around the trails where a lot of the footprints were
non-human.

There
was place full of giant, rust-covered dinosaurs as we entered
Wickenburg.

“We
better not stop there,” said Em.

“Yeah,
we may find something we want,” I agreed.

We were
also greeted by an abandoned motel with a RE-ELECT SHERIFF JOE ARPIO
sign, and a tire place with an inflatable Bigfoot.

In town,
we kept mistaking painted statues in of Old West characters for real
people. One was chained to Wickenburg's Jail Tree, where outlaws were
chained “for lack of a hoosegow” from 1863 to 1890. They say
no one ever escaped.

After
chicken-fried steak sandwiches at the Golden Nugget Restaurant, we
got back on Highway 60, and discovered that a section of it was
adopted by The Doom Family. Could it be the Doctor
Doom? We looked carefully, but there was no sign of Doctor, the
Missus, and the little Doomies picking up roadside litter.

We
had trouble finding Vulture Mine Road, and Vulture Peak Road, but
eventually found the trailhead near the volcanic neck, were we got
our tramping-through-the-desert fix before zigzagging our way back to
Phoenix.

WARNING!

is a recombocultural Chicano mutant, known for committing outrageous acts of science fiction, cartooning, and other questionable pursuits. He can’t help but be controversial. Everything he does offends or causes psychic harm. Rumor has it he’s doing it on purpose. Some people think he’s funny. Read on at your own risk . . . His novels are CORTEZ ON JUPITER, HIGH AZTECH, and SMOKING MIRROR BLUES. his short fiction has appeared in AMAZING STORIES, ANALOG, SCIENCE FICTION AGE, SEMIOTEXT(E)SF, SUPER STORIES OF HEROES & VILLAINS, WE SEE A DIFFERENT FRONTIER, and MOTHERSHIP: TALES FROM AFROFUTURISM AND BEYOND.

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